Lauren Matison

Our newly branded company, offMetro.com, gets a big boost of exposure in the latest February issue of Cosmopolitan Magazine! (Check the inside flap.)

Knowledge Is Power: Experts Share Easy Tips to Help You Eat Better, Save Our Planet [SLIDESHOW]

Before attending the NYC Wine & Food Festival’s “Dining Sustainably” panel last Saturday, I was sure I had the eco-chick shtick down pat. Before hearing what four smart, successful, and environmentally enlightened women had to say, I would have expected Al Gore and Ed Begley Jr. to praise my super light carbon footprint with a You Go Girl slap on my derrière. Ten minutes into the event, I realized: Who was I kidding?

Read the whole story for my organic food shockers and sustainable restaurant discoveries at huffingtonpost.com/lauren-elyse-matison/

Exciting news for offManhattan.com!

Cosmopolitan Magazine’s Publishing team named oM as one of their 10 favorite and most influential blogs!

“We clicked far and wide for the hottest up-and-coming bloggers who are experts on everything from fashion and beauty to food, fitness, motherhood, travel and going green. offManhattan.com proves that even your weekend getaways, dining and nightlife can go green. Get inspired with loads of budget-friendly, eco-friendly things to do near you.” — Cosmo Continue Reading

Scottsdale, AZ: On the new Soleri Bridge with my rented Schwinn bike

It’s a wonderful thing that the Pope’s new ride will be a plug-in hybrid, but vroom vroom doesn’t sound as sexy as it used to. Not when gas is $4 a gallon and the average car causes 600 pounds of air pollution every year. Obama’s pledge to up fuel-efficiency standards to an average 56.2 miles per gallon by 2025 is all well and good. But in the meantime, a troublesome economy is driving people to drive less.

AAA’s Fourth of July holiday report cited a decline in car travel and a shift towards alternative modes of transportation. Biking and low-cost interstate bus travel are on the rise. Might this be the start of a new era of footprint-sensitive vacationing? (Let’s think positive and say, “Yes.”)

So, where should you take your next car-free getaway?

These six cities may not boast mass transit systems like New York’s, but they do have what it takes to make discovering their best features an easy, fun, and affordable experience without a car. Continue Reading

I could move to France tomorrow. Leaving New York City behind does not seem such an impossible idea anymore. Especially after my recent visit, when my so-so grasp of the French language somehow came naturally, almost fluently after just a day. The joie de vivre seeped into my bones, the vibrant colors, the impressionist landscapes, the smell of fresh baked croissants, all the street-facing rows of scarf-wrapped coffee drinkers…on my fifth visit, France felt like home. And all those bikers! It really did move me. So I wrote about it for HuffPo. Continue Reading

Rail Europe, the France Guide, and Air France are hosting journalists May 16-21 on a cultural trip through five cities in France. I am so looking forward to being back!

This image of the blond bespectacled actor on his bike is something of a childhood memory for me. I grew up within a mile of Ed Begley Jr. in Los Angeles, and I still get warm fuzzies thinking about how he and I once shared a Studio City zip code. (The fact that Jack Nickelson and Tiffani Amber Thiessen also lived nearby didn’t seem to interest this National Geographic reading, mountain-hiking kid who loved to compost.) When I had the opportunity to catch up with the Hollywood hero last month at the Go Green Expo in New York, I didn’t hesitate to say hello.

It doesn’t matter how many times you hear or read his panoply of pleas about going green, even to republicans, Ed’s got a mouthful worth listening to. Quite simply, and without needing a script, he knows just how to get the serious message across–often by making light out of how to lighten our carbon footprint.

I followed up with the eco-friendly father, husband, and hybrid-trotter over email about his upcoming big project, some easy next steps for greenies, and what Ed Begley Jr.’s climate bill would look like if he knew Congress would pass it. Continue Reading

This day is supposed to be the most beautiful day of your life. It also happens to be one of the most egregiously un-green traditions we have. I didn’t even realize this–and I run a green travel website–until my boyfriend proposed to me in the middle of a rain forest five months ago and I began planning my wedding. Now that I am a bride-to-be, I figured I’d share some easy things we can do for the good of the planet (and our wallets) in anticipation of the big day.

To read the full story, visit huffingtonpost.com

My second story on the Huffington Post!

Since the spring of 1912, people have stopped in Washington D.C. to smell the cherry blossoms. Last year, over one million tourists came to the nation’s capital to enjoy the gift from the Japanese government 97 seasons after the first trees were planted in West Potomac Park. At a time when climate bills are struggling instead of flourishing on the Hill, why not explore the National Cherry Blossom Festival (March 27- April 11) in an environmentally conscious way? (Especially when this town is making it so easy to lighten the carbon footprint.)